Osborne warns Salmond: it’s ‘unlikely’ we’d let an independent Scotland use the pound.

Given that the Bank of England was set up by a Scot, Alex Salmond may expect that an independent Scotland would be automatically eligible to use the pound. Not so, George Osborne has replied, in fact it’s unlikely that England would let it.  The Chancellor takes a surprisingly keen interest in the campaign to save the union, and has chosen today- St George’s day – to travel to Glasgow and release a paper saying that the pound will remain property of Her Majesty’s Westminster government. And if Scots want to keep using it, post a 2016 secession, they’ll have to allow financial control to remain in London. Given that Barroso has warned that Scotland would not be automatically eligible to stay in the EU either – let alone join the Euro – it raises an awkward question as to what these independent Scots would use to pay the bills. The SNP want to stay in the sterling zone.